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Friday, May 25, 2018

Sour Blonde Status Report - 2018

Today I'll be doing a new tasting for the Lambic inspired Sour Blonde Ales I've been brewing and aging over the last 3.5 years.  I currently have 13 fermenters going.

After doing a tasting of my Sour Blonds 6 month ago (see previous tasting notes here) I found that the older beers were not very interesting so I decided to add some young, pre-soured, top up beer which I'd hoped would add some complexity.  We'll find out today whether that worked.

Regardless, I'm finally ready to start using these beers to create some bends.  I'll do a plain, cherry, and raspberry blend of these beers.  These tasting notes will be a good basis on which to decide the beers that will make up each blend.  I think any bland beer still be good components for use with fruit.

I have 6 beers in glass carboy, 5 in buckets for long term aging, 1 backfill batch and 1 in a better bottle.  I plan to condense my beers down to 12 fermenters and use 3 each year for blending.  I anticipate that beers will get intermixed over time so I've decided to track the progress of the beers by the fermenter rather than the beer number.


I'm excited to be tasting these again.  Can't wait to start my blending.

Fermenter #1:

  • Beers:
  • Overview:
    • First pitch of Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
    • Left to cool outside over night to let it capture some wild yeast
    • Grainbill of 2/3 pilsner and 1/3 flaked wheat
    • 1 oz of hops
    • Topped off with 1.25 gal of 1.020 (pilsner and raw wheat) beer which had been primaried with a blend of brewers yeast and lacto
  • Status Notes:
    • Moved this beer to our new house across town.  Got sloshed around quite a bit in the process
    • 6/3/18 Update:
  • Tasting Notes:
    • Light earthy aroma along with a subtle fruity ester.
    • Light gold in color.  Fairly clear.
    • A bit of fruit with some earthy flavor.  Finishes with a slight tartness.  Get a hint of bready malt on the finish.
    • Medium light bodied with a slight sweetness.  Drinks very smoothly
    • Pretty mild in terms of flavor and aroma but has some complexity of flavor that is pleasant.

Fermenter #2:
  • Beers:
  • Overview:
    • Second pitch of Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
    • Left to cool outside over night to let it capture some wild yeast
    • Grainbill of 2/3 pilsner and 1/3 flaked wheat
    • 1 oz of hops
    • Topped off with 1 gal of 1.020 (pilsner and raw wheat) beer which had been primaried with a blend of brewers yeast and lacto
  • Status Notes:
    • Moved this beer across town to our new house.  Beer got shaken up quite a bit in the process.
    • 6/3/18 Update:
  • Tasting Notes:
    • Pungent earthy and cheesy aroma to the beer.  Maybe a bit of overripe fruit.  Quite musty as well.
    • Light gold and clear - a few pellicle chunks floating in it.
    • Fruity with a light tartness in the finish.  Has some earthy brett notes.  I detect a bit of sulfur.  Also get a bit of bread flavor in the finish on this one.
    • Medium-light bodied a bit of sweetness to it.  A bit of prickling acidity in the mouthfeel.  Drinkable beer.
    • Some nice flavors and aromas with pretty good complexity.  I quite like this one

Fermenter #3:
  • Beers:
  • Overview:
    • Third pitch of Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
    • Grainbill of 2/3 pilsner and 1/3 flaked wheat
    • Cut hops back to 1/2 oz
    • Decided to only mash for 15 min to get a less converted wort.  Ended up with abysmal 43% efficiency
    • Topped off with 0.5 gal of 1.020 (pilsner and raw wheat) beer which had been primaried with a blend of brewers yeast and lacto
  • Status Notes:
    • Moved this beer across town to our new house.  Beer got shaken up quite a bit in the process.
    • 6/3/18 Update:
  • Tasting Notes:
    • Funky/musty brett character dominates the aroma.  Has a bit of cider character and some sulfur smell as well.
    • Straw yellow and a bit murky.
    • A bit of a musty flavor initially and finishes with a slight tartness.  Get sort of a mineral flavor as well.
    • Light bodied and pretty dry.  Smooth drinking
    • Very mild in flavor and not very complex

Fermenter #4:
  • Beers:
  • Overview:
    • Fourth pitch of Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
    • Grainbill of 2/3 pilsner and 1/3 flaked wheat
    • Moved to a lower AA hop
    • Did a normal mash this time
    • Topped off with 0.5 gal of 1.020 (pilsner and raw wheat) beer which had been primaried with a blend of brewers yeast and lacto
  • Status Notes:
    • Moved this beer across town to our new house.  Beer got shaken up quite a bit in the process.
    • 6/3/18 Update:
  • Tasting Notes:
    • Cider and a bit of earthness in the aroma
    • Light gold and a bit hazy
    • Light sourness with a bit of sulfur.  Also has a mineral sort of flavor to it.  Also has a bit of a cider like character
    • Light bodied and pretty dry.  Smooth drinking
    • Mild flavors with not a whole lot of complexity

Fermenter #5
  • Beers:
  • Overview:
    • First pitch of ECY01 Bug Farm
    • Changed malt bill to include 1 lb of Munich replacing 1 lb of pilsner.  Also did a proper cereal mash with raw wheat.
    • Added Maltodextrine to give the bacteria and brett a bit more food
    • Used 1/2 oz of hops
  • Status Notes:
    • Moved this beer across the city
    • Transferred it into a better bottle from a plastic bucket to re-pitch a new beer (Sour Blonde 2.2.1) onto the yeast cake
    • 6/3/18 Update
  • Tasting Notes:
    • Very cider like aroma.  Smells slightly musty
    • Light gold and very clear
    • Has a funky bandaid like flavor.  Also get some wine/cider like fruit notes.  Slight tartness in the finish.  I also note a faint bit of malty flavor in the finish
    • Light bodied and very dry.
    • This is a pretty interesting beer.  Flavors aren't exactly bold but they are different from the others.  Not terribly complex on its own but I think it could be useful for blending.

Fermenter #6:
  • Beers:
  • Overview:
    • First pitch of ECY 34 Dirty Dozen
    • Went with a malt bill of Pilsner and Malted and Flaked wheat
    • Added Maltodextrine to give the bugs more food
    • No hops in this batch
  • Status Notes:
    • Moved this across town since last time - shook it up quite a bit
    • Transferred into a glass carboy to free up the Dirty Dozen yeast cake for Sour Blonde 3.2.1
    • 6/3/18 Update:
  • Tasting Notes:
    • Fruity with an aroma almost like oak (had to check if there was oak in the batch - there is not).  Smells a lot like a white wine.  Has a bit of mustyness and a bit of earthy funk
    • Light gold and very clear
    • Fairly sour with interesting fruity ester character.  Has some earthy and cheesy brett character as well along with a bit of a bandaid like flavor.
    • Mouthfeel is light and it is really dry.  Some prickly acidity on the finish.
    • Overall this is a pretty interesting beer with nice bold flavors.  Flavors are unique and quite pleasant.

Fermenter #7
  • Beers:
  • Overview:
    • Primaried with Belgian yeast
    • Fifth pitch of Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
    • Added 1 gal of wort soured with lacto
    • Changed the malt bill to 2/3 pilsner 1/3 raw wheat
    • Used a sort of cereal mash on the raw wheat.  Added this right before sparging to get a starchy worth
    • Used Maltodextrine to increase food for bacteria
    • No hops in this batch
    • Aged on 1 oz of oak
    • Beer has aged in a bucket fermenter
    • Added 1 gal of 1.020 beer fermented with lacto and Belgian yeast to hopefully give the microbes a bit more to chew on
  • Status Notes:
    • This beer still has a 3 piece airlock.  I've been meaning to swap that out with a vented bung.  I've let the thing go dry several times
    • I moved this beer across town a few months ago which sloshed the beer around quite a bit.
    • 6/3/18 Update:
      • Used 0.5 gal of this beer in my Raspberry Sour Blonde Blend
      • Transferred the remainder of the beer into Fermenter #1
      • Transferred  Sour Blonde 1.6.1 into this fermenter to age on the Belgian Lambic Blend yeast cake
      • Added 1 oz of Chardonnay soaked oak to the fermenter
  • Tasting Notes:
    • Strong funky and earthy aroma.  Quite musty actually.  Has kind of an overripe fruit smell.  Get a bit of malt coming through faintly.
    • Orange and quite cloudy
    • Fruity with a pretty pronounced sourness.  Fruit is overripe peach maybe.  Finishes with quite a bit of bready malt.  There is a bit of funk mixed in
    • Medium-light bodied and pretty dry.  The acidity in the beer is prickling
    • Bold flavor and a pretty satisfying sourness.  The malt in the finish is interesting but the beer isn't all that complex really.

Fermenter #8
  • Beers:
  • Overview:
    • Second pitch of ECY01 Bug Farm
    • Brewed with a bit over 1/3 Raw Wheat which was cereal mashed.  Used pilsner and a bit of munich for color
    • Primary was performed with a blend of brewers yeast and lacto
    • Maltodextrine was added to give the microbes a bit more to work on
    • No hops were used
    • Beer has been aged in a bucket fermenter
  • Status Notes:
    • I still have an airlock on this batch.  Found it was dry with the sampling today
  • Tasting Notes:
    • Earthy and musty smelling.  Also get some overripe fruit
    • Light gold in color. A little hazy with pellicle chunks floating in it.
    • Quite sour with a bit of earthy funk in the finish.  Get a slight bit of bready malt.
    • Medium light bodied and dry.  The sourness is almost pucker inducking
    • This one has some bold flavors and a pretty profound sourness.  It isn't very complex at this point though

Fermenter #9
  • Beers:
  • Overview:
    • Second pitch of ECY 34 Dirty Dozen 
    • Brewed with a bit over 1/3 Raw Wheat which was cereal mashed.  Used pilsner and a bit of munich for color
    • Primary was performed with a blend of brewers yeast and lacto
    • Maltodextrine was added to give the microbes a bit more to work on
    • No hops were used
    • Beer has been aged in a bucket fermenter
  • Status Notes:
    • I've been aging this beer with an airlock so far.  It has run dry on me a few times.
    • 6/3/18 Update:
  • Tasting Notes:
    • Cheesy and earthy funk.  A bit of overripe fruit as well
    • Light gold and quite hazy
    • Moderately sour with a bit of cheesy brett character.  Has a slight mineral flavor to it.  I get a bit of bready malt in the finish as well.
    • Medium light in body and dry.  Slight prickly feeling in the mouth
    • Some interesting flavors and aroma.  Not terribly bold but has a pretty pleasant complexity

Fermenter #10
  • Beers:
  • Overview:
    • First pitch of Omega Yeast OYL-212 Brett Blend #3:  Bring on Da Funk
    • Also used  Omega Yeast OYL-605 Lactobacillus Blend (L. Plantarum and L. Brevis) to sour part of the batch
    • Brewed with a bit over 1/3 Raw Wheat which was cereal mashed.  Used pilsner and a bit of Munich for color
    • Also used some flour in the mash to try to give the microbes a bit more starch
    • No hops were used
    • Beer has been aged in a bucket fermenter
  • Status Notes:
    • NSTN
  • Tasting Notes:
    • Slightly fruity and a little musty smelling beer.  Also a bit cheesy.
    • Light gold with a slight haze
    • A bit of fruity flavor with a slight bit of earthy funk.  Very slightly tart.  Has kind of a mineral flavor as well.  A bit of bready malt comes through in the finish.
    • Medium-light bodied and pretty dry.  Drinks smooth.
    • Pretty mild in flavor and not much complexity

This leaves out the following beers that I've decided not to taste so far:
  1. Sour Blonde 5.1.1 which was a spontaneously fermented beer I made on 11/19/17.  I plan to try another spontaneous fermented beer in the fall.  I've decided that the potential de-motivator of finding this beer isn't very good is a stronger reason to not try it then the potential opportunity to learn something from this batch.
  2. Sour Blonde 6.1.1 which is fermenting with Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #1 since 3/25/18.  I haven't decided if this one will be used to backfill one of the other fermenters after the blending session.
  3. Sour Blonde 1.6.1 which has been primary fermented with my blend of lacto and brewers yeast since 3/25/18.  I plan to pitch it onto the yeast cake currently being used by Sour Blonde 1.5.1.
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